news is out on Hopedale TORONTO, ON, November 22, 2023 – Labrador Gold Corp. (TSX.V:LAB | OTCQX:NKOSF | FNR: 2N6) (“LabGold” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has fulfilled the requirements of the Hopedale option agreement dated and exercised its option to acquire 100% of the four licenses covering 695 claims comprising the Hopedale property. The Hopedale Project remains subject to a 2% net smelter return royalty.
The district scale Hopedale property covers a 43km strike length of the Florence Lake greenstone belt. The belt is typical of greenstone belts around the world but has been underexplored by comparison. Work to date by LabGold has resulted in the discovery of three gold occurrences, which together with the previously known Thurber Dog occurrence, stretch over a 3-kilometre section of the northern portion of the greenstone belt. The four gold occurrences show significant gold assays including: Thurber North up to 3.8 g/t Au; TD500 up to 21.59 g/t Au; Thurber Dog up to 11.4 g/t Au; Thurber South up to 4.1 g/t Au.
Channel sampling of the TD500 showing during 2022 resulted in 48 samples assaying greater than 100ppb (0.1g/t) Au that included 19 samples greater than 1 g/t Au. Highlights of the channel samples include 2.91 g/t Au over 5.17m including 14.02 g/t over 0.61m, 2.35 g/t Au over 6.88m and 4.23 g/t over 5.04m (see news release dated January 19, 2023).
Additional gold anomalies in rock and soil indicate potential for further discovery of gold occurrences along this trend.
There is also significant potential for the critical metals copper and nickel associated with mafic and ultramafic volcanic rocks along the belt. LabGold identified the Kaapak copper occurrence in 2021 with grab samples grading between 131 ppm to 10.2% Cu. The showing was channel sampled in 2022 with assay highlights of 3.31% Cu over 0.76m, 2.4% Cu over 0.6m and 1.55% Cu over 1m (see news release dated January 19, 2023).
Nickel mineralization previously identified by LabGold occurs over a 1.2km strike length of altered ultramafic rocks in the southern portion of the greenstone belt with rock samples assaying up to 3,375ppm (0.34%) nickel, 4,198ppm (0.42%) copper and 134ppm cobalt. Soil samples over the same area, called Rusty Ridge, show values up to 1,529ppm nickel and 152ppm cobalt.
The 2023 work program at Hopedale focussed on extending the known copper and nickel showings as well as to follow up on additional soil and rock anomalies elsewhere on the property. Work included mapping and prospecting and soil sampling. Regional drone magnetic surveys and more detailed ground magnetic-VLF surveys were carried out ultramafic and surrounding rocks to identify anomalies that may have potential to host nickel and/or copper mineralization. Results of assays and geophysical surveys are pending.
“Our district scale Hopedale project covers much of the Florence Lake greenstone belt that has many of the characteristics of greenstone belts elsewhere in the world but is underexplored by comparison. It has potential for the critical metals copper, nickel and cobalt in addition to the significant gold mineralization discovered to date.” said Roger Moss, President and CEO. “The three kilometre “Thurber Dog trend” includes the four discrete gold occurrences and is a compelling area for future work with significant potential for further discovery. Both the Kaapak copper occurrence with its demonstrated high-grade copper, and the nickel anomalies associated with ultramafic rocks at Rusty Ridge, are exciting critical metals targets that need follow up to determine their true extent.”